thesaltyfog

Hillsborough River

View from Hotel Glymur in Saurbaer, Iceland

 

From a project shot last summer...
 

Hillsborough River

Abandoned local high school.  This was taken last summer, but they've just started tearing it down, which reminded me of it.
 
"Thirds of Rule"

View from Hotel Glymur in Saurbaer, Iceland

 

Really nice shot - wonderful layered softness to it and great timing with the bird.
 
The bird reminded me instantly of the cover of Wilco's album Sky Blue Sky - very similar element in both
 

A few thoughts:
Posting your before and after photos is unnecessary.  Most of them aren't different enough from the original (in these small web JPGs, at least) to mean much to anyone but you. Show us your final vision.  I will say this small bit about post-processing, though... If you're presenting these as a set or a "portfolio" of Shoreditch you'll be well served to have a consistent look about them.  The "Barber & Parlour" shot, for instance, is vastly different from the rest and seems really out of place.  Was there some reason for the heavy processing in that shot?  Does it feel more like Shoreditch to you?  Is that processing helping to convey your meaning or the feeling of the place?  Would it be appropriate to use that on all of the photos in this set? I find the photos to generally be lacking a subject or focus.  My eye doesn't know where to look in many of the shots.  The "Gap" shot, for instance... what is this showing me?  I do like the graphic element of the line of signs, but the one closest to us is out of focus and the others are shrouded behind it, so are unreadable.  My eye is left to wander about trying to land on some information, moment, or aspect of Shoreditch that you are trying to portray. If you had perhaps moved a bit to your left, this could act as leading lines to the lady in the middle.  Similar for the shot of the man standing at the traffic light.  What are you showing us with this photo (and the others)? The composition of the vertical photos are all very similar with a hard vertical line down the "third" point of the frame - the store signs in the gap photo, the traffic light, the line of buildings in the "Calvert" photo and the columns in the Grocer billboard photo.  It may be interesting to present these as a triptych or some other set to show a theme in your composition.  But be careful in that applying the same composition every time can become boring very quickly for the viewer.  We don't have the same experience of the photo as you (with the sounds, smells, action, etc.), so you need to engage us visually.  Mix things up.  For example, the rows of shops themselves may be more interesting than the long empty sidewalk stretching out beside them - make them your subject.  The food truck shots are simply centered "whole" shots of the trailer/truck - fine as information ("Here's a food truck"), but not terribly engaging for the viewer.  Show us why we might want to go there, or that other people do.  (Though, I'd be very curious to try what they've got at the Duck Truck, which, ironically, isn't a truck.)  Take some time to reflect on each of them individually and as a group - Does this single photo work on its own?  What is the subject here? Does it build upon the last one or few to tell a story or give a sense of being there? etc. With all that said, though, you've passed the first hurdles - getting out there and making the shots and then opening yourself up to random strangers on the internet (savages, we are).  Neither of which can be easy to do.  I get the feeling you were trying to convey a sense of being in Shoreditch - a documentation of some elements of life there: rows of interesting shops (leaving aside the Gap, perhaps), people about, some food truck culture, some common elements of graffiti and a clever sign writer.  That's just my impression, at least, from these first photos.  

Spent a morning chasing the light around since there weren't many people about.  I was able to corral it a few times.
 

 

 

 

Really nice shot - wonderful layered softness to it and great timing with the bird.
 
The bird reminded me instantly of the cover of Wilco's album Sky Blue Sky - very similar element in both
 

Of Snow and Smoke by oscillik, on Flickr

Well, I think you've likely already got a lot of the answers in your own mind at the moment.  You already own an X-T1 and have made some kind of rationalisation to purchase an X-Pro2.  Why?  Something with the shiny new one has prompted you to move on, so what was it that sealed it for you?  Would you expect the new, as of yet completely rumoured X-T2 to have or not have that feature?  Does that feature really make your photography skills or photographs or the experience of photographing measurably better?  Odds are pretty good that the X-T2 will be a small evolution/refinement from the X-T1, likely with 90% of the same features as the X-Pro2, so you should already have some feelings about shooting with your X-T1 and why you think the X-Pro2 will improve upon that.  Going back to the X-T2 will likely be very, very similar to shooting with your current camera.
 
To me, anyway, the X-T and X-Pro lines really boil down to slightly different shooting paradigms:  Rangefinder style with hybrid viewfinder/fixed screen versus SLR-style with EVF/tiltable screen.  Everything else will be mostly the same (though the little differences between the two will be totally down to your personal preferences and may not be so small to you).  I love Fuji's approach of jamming the same sensor in all cameras, as you can then decide on the shooting style / price / size that works for you and still get the same quality of pictures.  Wonderful.  This is really the way you should be considering this, I think... what about the two body styles will be preferable for you?
 
I would have a very hard time convincing myself to wait around for an unannounced camera on the off chance it has some magical thing that will make my photos 100x better (because it won't, as much as we lie to ourselves all the time ).  Personally, I absolutely adore my X-T1 and will most likely wait around for an X-T3 before I even think of upgrading.  This camera is part of my hand, allows me to make completely awesome prints pretty much as large as I'll ever need, and best of all I ALREADY OWN IT and can walk out the door and make photographs this very second.  That $1800 for the shiny new camera can stick around in my pocket while I make more and more photos with my perfectly awesome camera.  That's not to say at all that I won't drool all over the X-T2 whenever it is announced and fight to keep my credit card from magically flying into the machine at the local shop, because I absolutely will.  I just know at this moment that I have a camera... a friggin' excellent camera with friggin' excellent lenses and I'm going out to shoot some photos that will be 99% the same with this camera or any refinement thereof, not matter how shiny or sexy the new one may be.  Boy, I'm wordy today.  All I'm trying to say is... you have a wicked camera at your side at this very moment.  Go use it!  Forget the new stuff and make photos! (Maybe that's helpful, maybe not.)
 
And totally personal preference, but I no longer have any use for an OVF, as much as I bemoaned EVFs for years.  The X-T1 has converted me and there's no going back.  So, the X-Pro line is mostly wasted on me these days, as much as I do love the look and style of a classic rangefinder design (I borrow my neighbour's Leica M4 on occasion... so awesome to shoot with).  But to each their own. 

This one always makes me laugh - just picturing the frustration and desperation of trying to dispose of this chair to leave it like this.
 
"Soho Trash"

 
 

Not typically a landscape guy, but just returned from Iceland and a place like that just demands it.  Wowzers.  Just stunning scenes wherever you go.
 

Pensive Diner

Really nice shot - wonderful layered softness to it and great timing with the bird.
 
The bird reminded me instantly of the cover of Wilco's album Sky Blue Sky - very similar element in both
 

Really nice shot - wonderful layered softness to it and great timing with the bird.
 
The bird reminded me instantly of the cover of Wilco's album Sky Blue Sky - very similar element in both
 

I use VirtualDub.  Very basic, but free.  http://www.virtualdub.org/
 
Essentially just open a directory with sequentially numbered images, tell it that it's an image sequence, and voila.  You can set the frame rate and make looping GIFs or save to an AVI.  From there you could import into more complex video editing software like Adobe Premiere or the like.
 
I used to shoot for a local music promotion company and did a number of stop motion videos of live paintings that were created during the concerts.  Always a fun product from the shows.  Here's one example, which was quite a night... the painting was actually stolen right from the stage after the show!  It was recovered the next day thanks to the stop motion camera catching the guy with his hand literally on the painting.  The timing was perfect and the guy had no idea it was there. 
 
If you're just going to HD video at best, you don't need a terribly awesome camera to do this or can just set your image size much lower if you want to save on storage space (1080p is only 2MP).  I used to do this with a little Canon SD300, which is a good 10-11 years old now, I think.  I had hacked it with the totally awesome CHDK that opens up all kinds of crazy stuff.  Though, the setup in the X-T1 is vastly more friendly and simple to implement.  I did some star trails last year and a stop motion of a big storm on a river with the X-T1 and they both turned out wonderfully.  

View from Hotel Glymur in Saurbaer, Iceland

 

Old Mine Park - Schiffweiler Reden by André Heid, auf Flickr

Not typically a landscape guy, but just returned from Iceland and a place like that just demands it.  Wowzers.  Just stunning scenes wherever you go.
 

Not typically a landscape guy, but just returned from Iceland and a place like that just demands it.  Wowzers.  Just stunning scenes wherever you go.
 

Not typically a landscape guy, but just returned from Iceland and a place like that just demands it.  Wowzers.  Just stunning scenes wherever you go.
 

Not typically a landscape guy, but just returned from Iceland and a place like that just demands it.  Wowzers.  Just stunning scenes wherever you go.
 

Paul - this one reminded me of one of mine from 2012 in Nevada.  The walking figure is very similar.  Your foreground is more interesting, though.  Sister photos from opposite sides of the planet.